Not That Different
by Lady Maria
Summary: x-over with WWE. song fic using the song of the same name. They met and fell in love, but she thinks they are much too different. Are they? Well, the matchmaker slayer doesn't think so...


Title: Not that Different  
  
Summary: Two completely different people fall in love, but she feels   
that the differences are far too great. Is she right?   
  
Crossover with WWE. No spoilers due to being more than slight AU.   
Faith never went bad. And who knows with WWE.  
  
Song fic  
  
Rating: PG for mentions of kissing.  
  
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, the song, Not that   
Different, isn't mine. If they were, I wouldn't be broke and sharing   
my room with my grandmother's cats.  
  
  
  
  
She said we're much too different; we're from two separate worlds  
And he admitted she was partly right  
But in his heart's defense he told her what they had in common  
What strong enough to bond them for life  
He said look behind your own soul and the person that you'll see  
Just might remind you of me  
  
  
He wished he could talk her out of it, but he'd known her for   
too long. The look in Buffy's eyes told him that something far   
deeper was at work, something he couldn't understand.   
  
The Buffy he'd gotten reacquainted with wasn't the little girl   
whose pigtails he'd once pulled. She wasn't the same girl he'd   
shared his first kiss with, the summer he was thirteen. He'd known   
that and accepted it, but now she was turning away from him. And he   
didn't know why and neither did her Uncle Vince. In desperation,   
he'd even gone to Stephanie but she had just sighed. "I don't know   
what my little cousin's thinking anymore. Seven years ago, I could   
have told you. Seven years ago, she wasn't this aggressive and   
thought that wrestling was barbaric. Now, she loves the sport, the   
danger, and the thrill. I wish I could help you but I can't. Let   
her go. If it's meant to be, she'll find her way home."   
  
Now, he had to admit that most people would have thought her   
show of kindness strange, but that was the Steph that he and Jeff   
had always known. And because he did trust Steph so much, Matt Hardy   
was letting his soul mate go.  
  
  
I laugh, I love, I hope, I try  
I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry  
And I know you do the same things too  
So we're really not that different, me and you  
  
  
She loved him, probably even more than she'd ever thought she   
loved Angel. But even though she loved him, she had to let him go.   
It's safer this way, she told herself. Even though you're not the   
active Slayer anymore, with Faith on the Mouth, the baddies still   
come. That's why you're leaving the WWE, remember?  
  
As she walked away, feeling worse than after the Harvest, and   
her death, she could have sworn she heard a whispered, "I love you,   
Buffy Summers. And despite whatever it is that you think makes you   
so different, you are the same as me, except purer. So much more   
pure, blonde angel."  
  
  
She could hardly argue with his pure and simple logic  
But logic never could convince a heart  
She had always dreamed of loving someone more exotic  
And he just didn't seem to fit the part  
So she searched for greener pastures but never could forget  
What he whispered when she left  
  
  
Six years. Six years spent traveling the entire globe wiping   
out demon and vampire populations, and she still couldn't forget the   
man she loved. She'd talked to Steph and Shane a couple of times   
over the years, but they didn't understand her leaving any more than   
Matt.   
  
She really couldn't forget him, or the way he'd looked when she   
told him she had to leave. That he didn't understand her, couldn't   
understand her. And she'd never forgotten his long-ago words.   
They'd always stuck with her. He'd called her a blonde angel. Why   
didn't he understand that she was nobody's angel?  
  
She still called the States to talk to Faith and Xander, and   
Xander was a…fan…of wrestling. Well, technically, he was obsessed,   
but what was the difference? Xander could always be counted on to   
tell her the truth of what was going on in Sunnydale and on the WWE   
and Faith understood her.  
  
Faith had been the only person back in Sunnydale she'd ever told   
that the storyline that had been used when she started wrestling had   
been the truth. And that while she was traveling with the WWE and   
her aunt, uncle, and two cousins, she'd fallen back in love with her   
childhood crush.  
  
Faith also understood the need to protect people from the things   
that went bump in the night. Faith had, after all, been the one   
that had always tried to protect Xander. But, as she had finally   
told Buffy, she'd had to trust that he would be fine on his own.   
Faith had trusted him, Xander had been fine, and now they were   
getting married.   
  
The Slayer Buffy Summers, the former WWE wrestler, Beth McMahon,   
gritted her teeth against the thought of running away, and headed   
into the Hyperion Hotel. The maid of honor did have to be present   
at the wedding.  
  
  
I laugh, I love, I hope, I try  
I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry  
And I know you do the same things too  
So we're really not that different, me and you  
  
  
Stephanie McMahon looked hard at Matt Hardy, contemplating how   
to tell him of the invitation she'd just gotten. "Matt, how would   
you like to accompany me to a wedding?"  
  
"Excuse me?" he asked, not being able to form a more complete   
sentence.  
  
"You and I were invited to a wedding. I recall Buffy mentioning   
the girl, Faith, once. Maybe Buffy requested we be there or   
something, I don't know. I do know that I want to party and what   
better excuse?"  
  
Matt heaved a sigh. "I'm not going to be able to escape, am I?"  
  
"No," she said with a grin, "so just suck it up and find that   
tuxedo I know you own."  
  
"I hate you, bitch."  
  
"I know you do," she said sticking out her tongue. "I also know   
I'm supposed to be hated because I'm such a bitch."  
  
  
Was it time or was it truth  
Maybe both led her back to his door  
As her tears fell at his feet  
She didn't say "I love you" what she said meant even more  
  
  
She saw him and Steph in the audience just before she walked   
down the aisle. She turned to face her sister Slayer and   
muttered, "I'm going to kill you, Faith Morgan."  
  
"I know you are, but remember, they are grown ups. They can take   
care of themselves."  
  
"I'll think about not gutting you," the blonde tossed over her   
shoulder as she followed the flower girl out.  
  
***********************************  
  
The guy next to Steph, who she'd termed handsome, but rather   
cold to the touch, suddenly gasped.  
  
"Are you alright, sir?" she asked, peering around him to try to   
see what could have prompted such a reaction from him. And she   
froze at the sight of the maid of honor.  
  
"I'm fine," Angel stammered. "It's just that I used to date the   
maid of honor and Faith didn't mention Buffy would be here."  
  
"You used to date Buffy?" Stephanie asked rather surprised. Her   
cousin had never mentioned tall, dark, handsome, and incredibly cold.  
  
"Yeah, you know her?"  
  
"Matt over there used to date her until she told him that they   
were too different to work out and that she was leaving. And I'm her   
cousin."  
  
Angel's jaw dropped. He looked over at the guy that was   
currently sleeping next to Buffy's cousin. "Let's try this again.   
I'm Angel, who are you?"  
  
"I'm Stephanie McMahon. The sleeping hulk is Matthew Hardy.   
Think we should pay attention to the couple saying `I do'?"  
  
"Why?" Angel asked with a half-smile. "Buffy and Willow won't let   
Faith and Xander mess up, and if they did and someone laughed, Buffy   
would knock them out. Then again, if it was Spike, she'd stake him."  
  
"What does meat have to do with anything?" Steph asked, looking   
bewildered. "And maybe you could tell me why my cousin grew so fond   
of violence."  
  
As the bride and groom engaged in an impressive display of tongue   
wrestling, the maid of honor was looking a bit panicked. Using   
Slayer hearing, she'd heard every word of her cousin and ex-lover's   
conversation. She knew that Angel hadn't realized that even though   
she'd told her mother about the Call, she hadn't told the rest of   
her family. And then the cramps struck both Buffy and the bride.  
  
Angel saw the panicked _expression on Buffy's face fade to the   
battle-ready look he'd seen there every time she'd felt a demon or   
vamp. Faith and Xander had broken their kiss as well and Faith had   
moved to stand next to her blonde counterpart.  
  
Willow had seen the movement as well and, knowing that the   
majority of the small wedding audience didn't know about the things   
that went bump in the night, yelled out, "Take cover, hide and break   
something wooden. If you have a cross or a Star of David hold it in   
front of you. Any of you that know what's going on, come up here   
and fight. Remember, we may destroy the ballroom, but Angel will   
understand."  
  
And with that, forty-five vamps rushed in and began targeting the   
Slayers, because Buffy had killed their master and Sire the week   
before in Rome.  
  
Somewhere in the middle of the battle Steph and Matt found   
themselves helping the people already fighting. As soon as the last   
vamp turned to dust, the Scooby Gang and the Angel Investigations   
team found themselves explaining to everyone.  
  
  
I laugh, I love, I hope, I try  
I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry  
And I know you do the same things too  
So we're really not that different, me and you  
  
  
"I know I should have told you but I wanted to protect you,"   
Buffy stammered.   
  
"I don't need protecting," Matt told her gently. "Now that you   
know that, will you come back? Even the fans miss you, and you're a   
McMahon, of all people."  
  
"I'll come back," she said. "I guess we aren't that different,   
after all."  
  
"Will you marry me, blonde angel?"  
  
"You bet your ass I will."   
  
And as they kissed, oblivious to the fact that the other wedding   
guests were staring, and Faith shared a glance with her new husband.   
  
"So," she yelled, breaking the blonde and the brunette's long   
kiss, "my matchmaking worked?"  
  
"Faith, do I have to invite you to the wedding?" Buffy asked.  
  
"You know you want to," Faith said. "Besides, you'll get so much   
more sex now that you have a steady man again."  
  
"Faith!!!!!!" And with that, another chapter was opened in all   
of their lives.


End file.
